Bad 25

source: Bad 25

"Bad 25" is an insightful outlook at the genius of Michael Jackson. Years have passed since his death but people won't stop worshipping him since he established himself as a real cult figure. This documentary emphasizes the immense creativity of Jackson and his timeless music. It's easy to understand how he has always had free access to the heart of billions of people including all his colleagues and employees. The truth of his greatness is palpable throughout the documentary, which is able to immerse the audience in the massive hysteria of the 80s that surrounded Michael Jackson. "Bad 25" was made by people who truly cared about Michael and his art and it shows. The documentary also focuses on the work ethic of the superstar and how he set the unachievable standards of the music industry. If you are looking for a great piece of the history of Michael Jackson 'Bad 25' is the answer.

Bad25 is going to appeal to the Michael Jackson fan. It casts some much needed light on the creative process the led to the finished "Bad" album. This documentary will not appeal to those who want to learn more about Michael's private life, especially his eccentricities. It was interesting that the buying of the Beatles catalogue may have led to some of the junk journalism. Some junk journalism was released by people in Michael's group. If this is indeed the case, it backfired badly for Jackson. The documentary is a standard example of a factual documentary, with a lot of talking heads. I feel that Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey, Kanye West, Chris Brown and Cee LoGreen and maybe one or two others were unnecessary add-ins. They added little to the story, though with Mariah, it was funny to hear she had two dresses reminiscent of a Thumbtzen dress in the late 1980's. Little things like that are nice to hear, in my opinion. I have grown impatient with the amount of focus on Michael's private life. I'm a scientist, and if I have learned anything, it is this. Outside of science all you have is a court of law, which examines the available evidence. The general public have no right, in my opinion, to judge a person upon junk journalism. I remember in the documentary "The Michael Jackson Story", Seb Fontaine (narrator) pointed out at the beginning of the documentary that "it is easy to forget what all the fuss was about in the first place; it was of course his music". It is really sad that some people have actually "forgotten" why Jackson became famous in the first place. This documentary reminds us of a man driven by passion for music, driven by a passion to surpass himself musically, driven by a passion to entertain. He was a workaholic and he deserves credit for his hard work. It was not easy and few people remember this when they critically examine his music. There was one part of the documentary which fell down considerably. That was the discussion of the song "Just Good Friends". It was considered a "coffee break" between "Liberian Girl" and "The Way You Make Me Feel". I don't understand why. I like it. This documentary will bring people back to the man and his music. Buy the DVD, Watch it and leave your junk journalism down forever.

1987 was when the King of Pop released his successful follow-up album to the record breaking, critically acclaimed and award winning Thriller, and 2012 was the time when the album Bad would be celebrating its twenty fifth anniversary, so this film tells the story of how it came to be, from director Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing, "They Don't Care About Us" music video). Michael Jackson wanted to take somewhat of a different approach with his follow-up to Thriller and hoped to sell even more copies of the album, and this film shows behind the scenes of his writing, recording and performing the songs and their videos during the making of the Bad album. This includes film director Martin Scorsese, and his editor Thelma Schoonmaker, looking back at the making of the video for the title single, "Bad", including what it was like working with Michael, the dance routines, the costumes, the casting of Wesley Snipes and much more. We see Joe Pytka (Space Jam) talk about directing Michael and him being shy about doing a kissing scene in the video for "The Way You Make Me Feel" and it instead ends with hugging, we see the making of "Another Part of Me" and him performing to an audience of thousands, and we see how a slow ballad song idea emerged into "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" which was a duet with Siedah Garrett (it could have been Whitney Houston). We see celebrity fans asking if any particular Diana was the one sung about in the single "Dirty Diana", we see the origins of the lyric "Annie are you okay?" in the song "Smooth Criminal" and discussions about the famous dance moves including the lean, and we find out more about the lyrics written in the song "Leave Me Alone", and the other songs on the album are talked about in some detail as well: "Speed Demon", "Liberian Girl" and "Just Good Friends" which featured Stevie Wonder. Of course the celebrities interviewed also talk about where they were, how they heard and how they reacted about the death of Michael, and what he meant to them in their lives, and this magnificence he created is perfectly captured with the album's pivotal song, "Man in the Mirror", written by Garrett it is truly one of his greatest and most loved songs, not just for the album Bad but in his career, it was the song that in the UK got to number two after his death. With contributions from Justin Bieber, Chris Brown, Mariah Carey, Sheryl Crow, Cee Lo Green, Quincy Jones, Usher, Antonio 'L.A.' Reid, Kanye West and many more. It is very interesting documentary about the creation of such a memorable and successful album from one of the most iconic pop stars in the world, this is definitely a really suitable and well put together film to go with the celebration, a great music documentary. Michael Jackson was number 14 on The 100 Greatest Pop Culture Icons, and he was number 6 on The Ultimate Pop Star. Very good!

Just because LA Reid is the handler of Justin Bieber I don't why he puts him in to things when Michael Jackson worked all his life. To me it was a cut & paste film. I prefer the original Michael Jackson short films especially Ghost compared to this one. Granted Mariah Carey was a friend of Michael's but how did she & Bieber end up in this? I as a true fan of Michael Jackson never support anything with Justin Bieber in it. Once again MJ worked hard at his craft not to have it pasted together & a person that may "idolize him" be put in to this. It just makes me ill. LA Reid stop putting Bieber in Michael Jackson projects. I will stick to the original items of Michael Jackson. Thank you.

Spike Lee could be a filmmaker with varied performance when it comes to films but here he truly displayed some professionalism covering the recording era of Michael Jackson's "Bad" album. Not only, he collects interviews from numerous individuals of the music industry but he carefully tries to avoid the myth and gossip traps that surround the name of Michael Jackson. This is a musical documentary at first and not a closer look as to who or what Michael Jackson was. An argument could be made that Lee decided to focus all his energy to the musical genius that Jackson was and how hard he worked to finish an album such as "Bad" including his any skills. The man was composing, producing, writing the songs, choreographing his videos, singing and dancing live, vocal arranging and beatboxing! It is a shame that the album itself had to endure endless criticism for not reaching the levels of "Thriller" and at that period it was considered a disappointment despite selling more than 30 million copies worldwide and being accompanied by the most successful tour of all time. After 25 years though, "Bad" is considered one of the best albums out there, a record unparalleled in terms of hits and quality balance. "Bad" is a record richer than "Thriller" with less filler and more meat. Lee's interviews, raw footage and behind the scenes tactics prove just that. Taking a massive 5 year period to be recorded, with hundreds of (finished) demos, lots of artistic input and various musical collaborations, "Bad" now gets the treatment and (much awaited) spotlight it deserves. Bad 25 celebrates the rich sound that Jackson's third solo record contained along with diverse musical engineering and craftmanship. The album has so many hits on so many levels - the short film of Smooth Criminal, the anti gravity lean, the West Side Story dance number of "Bad", the rock gritty sound of "Dirty Diana" with Steve Stevens' input, the psychedelic vibe in "Leave me alone" and the powerful anthem of "Man in the mirror" are just cases that display, suggest and reveal a creative and hard working genius at the peak of his game. It is really sad that people still tend to emphasize any negative or controversial aspects that Jackson may had. But the musical one is not one of them. For he remains at the pantheon of the most brilliant musicians and performers ever to walk the earth and perhaps, the greatest. And we cannot take that away from him. Ever

Don't get me wrong, I love Spike Lee and I love MJ, but this documentary just isn't that good. I saw it at the Filmfestival in Venice this summer, and was really looking forward to it, especially since Spike was there at the viewing. He was cool. The film let me down a little bit, though. Even though especially the footage of the making of 'Bad' and the origins of other songs were great to see and very interesting, some of the interviews with celebrities were not. People like Justin Bieber and Mariah Carey did not have a lot to contribute, and for me the tear-jerking question 'where were you when you heard about Michael's death?' (followed by a montage of celebrities looking down, tearing up etc) could have been left out. It is important to pay a tribute to the King of Pop, of course, but it could have been done in a tighter and 'smoother' way. It reminded me too much of some MTV 'The Rise & Rise of..' format. The style of the film (talking head, weird cross zoom rotate fade, original footage, talking head) was also part the reason why to me it felt it should have ended about twenty minutes before it did.

This documentary really shows the craftsmanship of the King of Music. There are some funny stories, and more bonus footage to come when its released on BLURAY in FEB 2013. Can't wait. MJ in HD....i think this deserves 10 stars. Bad25 is a great release, its all about the music, and the music still stands up today. Its fresh, funky, and Bad :) While This is it covered the last tour, Bad25 covers one of his albums. Hopefully there will be more MJ album documentaries like this one. Spike Lee did a wonderful job, hopefully if they make more of these he will be the one making them. This documentary about the 1987 album is nothing short than great and everyone should watch it.

This documentary shows why Michael is the greatest genius that has ever walked this earth. We miss you Michael. Rest in piece. Love you. I recommend everyone to go and watch it. You will not regret it.

It's a nice documentary for Michael Jackson fans who never get enough from this man, there's a lot of unreleased rehearsal and Behind the scenes videos you've never seen before. the best part of the movie was that one about the way you make me feel I really loved it, the least was smooth criminal part, they presented the lyrics as meaningless crab, the short film as a reidea, something that I completely disagree. These particular hit and short film took Michael's popularity to a whole new range around the globe, maybe it didn't make it in US but it was the most international single from the album. I first know about Michael from this short film. for people just curious about how Michael's music process goes, I recommend This is it than BAD25. Maybe I'm a little bit overrating but I give 10 stars for this doc.. Its celebrating a 10 star album, and the all time king of stars :)